Is the Sagrada Familia finished? Date of completion and more
WHEN WILL THE SAGRADA FAMILIA BE FINISHED?
Sagrada Familia has been built for almost 150 years now: it’s start date is 1882, when the society of Devotees of St. Joseph hired architect Francesc de Paula i Villar to build a church for them dedicated to the Holy Familia (hence its name, Sagrada Familia). However, the many disagreements between them let to the first architect resignation, and the society was recommended a young architect that was only starting out: Antoni Gaudi.
As it is known, he was going to transform the project of a traditional church into a world wonder that would take more than a century to be completed – just like the old medieval Cathedrals. And Antoni Gaudi ended up working in the Sagrada Familia church for 43 years, until his death in 1926. The construction has been continued since then, only stopping during the Spanish Civil War in the the 1930’s and the Covid pandemic.
Nowadays the construction has entered its final stages, and big changes have been seen these last few years, starting with the completion of the inside in 2010, and following with the crowning of several towers after the pandemic. Do you want to know how much is missing, why it's taking so long and the Sagrada Familia estimated completion date? Keep reading!
Sagrada Familia construction timeline
In order to understand how much is missing, it’s important to understand where are we coming from, and what’s been the construction timeline. Let’s do a quick recap:
- 1882. The first stone of Sagrada Familia is laid out.
- 1883. Antoni Gaudi takes over after Francesc de Paula Villar resigns.
- 1889. The Apse is started
- 1893. The Crypt is finished.
- 1894. The Apse is finished.
- 1891. Starts the construction of the Nativity Façade.
- 1925. The first tower, St. Barnabas, is crowned.
- 1926. Death of Antoni Gaudi.
- 1930. All four towers of the Nativity Façade are completed.
- 1954. Starts the construction of the Passion Façade.
- 1976. Completion of the Passion Façade belltowers.
- 1978. The perimeter of the side naves is started.
- 1986. Josep Maria Subirachs starts working on the sculptures of the Passion Façade.
- 1986. The foundations of the naves start being laid out.
- 2010. The inside is finished and dedicated by Pope Benedict XVI.
- 2016. The central towers start being built.
- 2021. The tower of the Virgin Mary is completed.
- 2022. The towers of Luc and Mark are completed.
- 2023. The towers of John and Mathew are completed.
For more in-depth explanations about the history of the Sagrada Familia, check out this other post.
Why is Sagrada Familia taking so long?
For the next decades and until pretty much the Olympic Games in 1992, money was the main reason why the Sagrada Familia was taking so long to complete. But then after the games Barcelona went from being a grey and boring city into becoming a world-class tourism destination. In less than a decade the church went from receiving 20,000 visitors a year, to several milions. And the admissions paid by the visitors were considered a “donation” as well. The money issue was solved.
But there’s other things to take into account. During the Spanish Civil war (1936-39) the church was attacked and the workshop where Gaudi’s models were kept was destroyed in a fire. The models exploded, and Gaudi’s continuators were able to recover most of them, but putting them together and restoring them has taken decades. You can’t even imagine the amount of work that involves studying the math and geometry that generates each piece, matching it to the other pieces, and researching other available materials (old pictures, sketches and press stories preserved outside of the church).
Of course, computers and new technologies have helped speeding up the process, and now things such as 3D printers are used for the construction on daily basis. However, Gaudi planned things for which there wasn’t technology available in his time, and he trusted that the new generations will be able to figure them out, as technology progressed. And that’s the thing: there’s been moments when figuring out the right way of solving structural challenges has required being creative, and traveling around the world to find where similar problems had been faced and how they had been solved. And that, of course, takes time.
Also, it’s not the same building a sky scrapper where every floor is the same, than building something where every level is different: almost every piece is different, and they must work in an almost artisanal way. It’s not as fast as working at industrial speed. Also, the ground available puts another limit to the speed of the construction: everything that can be done somewhere else is done off-site. But there’s many parts that need to be done or at least finalized in the premises, and as the church grows upwards you can’t start working on them until what goes underneath is finished. One thing at a time.
So what year will la Sagrada Familia be finished?
Also, many millions of euros that weren’t earned during the lockdown and the post-pandemic years that it took for tourism to recover, so the construction budget was heavily affected. Because of that, 2026 isn’t when Sagrada Familia will be finished anymore. However, there’ll be things to celebrate: In exchange, the goal is to top the tower of Jesus by then (or if possible, by Christmas 2025, so we have the entire year to celebrate). And after that it’ll be time to work on the last towers: those of the Glory Façade. And due to the pandemic, the board for the construction doesn’t want to be too optimistic anymore…
Who knows what can happen? So they refuse to give an exact date. However, rumors are that the last towers should be done by the early 2030’s. Early 2030’s is reasonable enough for them to build the towers, seeing the current speed of the construction. And in the early 2030’s there’s two more special events taking place: 2032 will be the 150 anniversary of the beginning of the construction, and then 2033 will be the 150 anniversary of Gaudi taking over the works. Wouldn’t they be cool dates to finish Sagrada Familia?
Sagrada Familia finished design
Will there be anything missing after the Glory façade is built?
Plus the Holy Spirit, Jesus seating in the Glory and the words of the Creed prayer. But so far no artist has been assigned this gigantic task yet, so who knows how it’ll end up looking like. There’s some colorful sketches by the draftsmen R. Berenguer that give an idea of how the final look could be. But that’s just an orientation, as Gaudi worked mostly on the structure of the church, but only gave general guidelines for the sculptures and decoration that would come after he’d be gone.
Then there’s the problem of the bridge to access the main entrance. When Gaudi was alive, Barcelona was still expanding. The layout of the streets of the new Eixample has already designed, and Gaudi knew exactly where the streets surrounding the church were going to be. But the land across the street from the main entrance was available, and he reached an agreement with the town council to leave it as green space, so he could plan a bridge over the street and a grand staircase to get into the church from there.
However, that town was still a village independent from Barcelona, Sant Martí de Provençals. And a few decades later the block started being build up with apartment buildings, including one built in the 1980’s right where the staircase needs to be. But of course by then people thought they’d be long dead by the time the church was finished… Flashforward 40 years, and the current inhabitants of the block are going to do anything they can to find a loophole in the law that allows them to stay for as long as possible.
So far, though, the bridge and the staircase aren’t a top priority for the construction board of the Sagrada Familia: there’s still so much to be done, and visitors can continue to use the side entrances in the Nativity and Passion façades while the Glory Façade is built. And by then, if the Barcelona City Council hasn’t done its job of knocking down a building that was supposed to be “temporary”, maybe Sagrada Familia is willing to buy the apartments out…
In any case, as Gaudi used to say pointing to the sky with one finger “My boss is not in a hurry”.
Are you surprised about the Sagrada Familia completion date?
Marta
Marta is the founder of ForeverBarcelona. She is a passionate tour guide that loves Barcelona and loves writing too. She is the main author of our Blog, and is committed to sharing her knowledge about Barcelona and her best tips with our readers.
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